 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Finchley Road" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Finchley Road is a designated 4.5-mile (7-kilometre)arterial road in north-westLondon, England. Finchley Road starts inSt John's Wood near central London as part of theA41; its southern half is a majordual carriageway with high traffic levels[1] often frequented by lorries and long-distance coaches[2] as it connects central London, via the A41Hendon Way, to theM1 motorway atBrent Cross and other roads at that interchange.
Its northern half, which dissects away from the A41 and is designated as the A598, runs through suburban areas via the centre ofGolders Green toHenlys Corner, where the road north of it leads toFinchley, from which Finchley Road gets its name.
Its southern half, in which it gives its name to the centre-west part ofHampstead, has two current railway stations including the nameFinchley Road.London Buses route 13 runs through the entire road, while theroute 113 runs only in its southern half.
Originally named Finchley New Road,[3] it was built as aturnpike to provide an alternative to the hillier route north from London, which ran further east through the village ofHampstead.
The original route, now the A502, ran from Camden Town along what is now Chalk Farm Road,Haverstock Hill,Rosslyn Hill,Heath Street andNorth End Road to Golders Green where it joins Finchley Road. It had two steep hills either side of Hampstead Village, and was difficult for horses with carriages to negotiate when muddy. The Finchley Road Act was passed in 1826 and the new turnpike road was completed in 1835.[4]
The new route (now theA41) started from what was then called the 'New Road' (the first London bypass) and is nowMarylebone Road, and ran north, first along what are now Park Road and Wellington Road, and becomes Finchley Road atSt John's Wood tube station. It goes north throughSwiss Cottage, then turns slightly north west, forming an unofficial boundary betweenHampstead andWest Hampstead, and then turns north again atChild's Hill. The A41 diverges westward and Finchley Road becomes theA598. It continues pastGolders Green Underground station (where it meets the old route), throughTemple Fortune to theNorth Circular Road, crossing it atHenlys Corner, where it becomes Regents Park Road (perhaps after the southern end of the route). This continues as Ballards Lane through Finchley Central to North Finchley. There it joins the formerGreat North Road (now the A1000).
Tolls were collected at atollgate at Childs Hill.
After the road was built, many grand houses were built along its length, especially nearFortune Green,Childs Hill andGolders Green.
By 1940, there were approximately 14,000Jewish refugees living in the area, some of whom established businesses along Finchley Road. During theSecond World War, bus conductors would call out "Finchleystrasse – passports please!" as they pulled up on the road, due to the high number of German speakers there.[5]
Finchley Road remains a heavily used route in and out of London. The most commercial part of the road is betweenSwiss Cottage Underground station and theO2 Centre.
In 1856 as many as ten stagecoaches a day ran along Finchley Road, serving Swiss Cottage, where the Atlas Line, a business of these, had started about six years before.[4]
Omnibuses reached the area north of Swiss Cottage by way of Finchley Road as far as Finchley Road station before 1880. Later omnibuses were extended along Finchley Road to meet others from Edgware Road alongWest End Lane, continuing north to Childs Hill and Hendon.[4] Motorbuses had replaced horse omnibuses by 1911.[4]
Plans for an extensive network of tramways, along Adelaide and Finchley Roads, were dropped after opposition from the council, ground landlords, and residents.[4]
On 2 October 1993 five people were injured and damage caused whenthree bombs planted by theProvisional IRA exploded.[6][7]
Hampstead is served byFinchley Road Underground station (Jubilee andMetropolitan lines) and, 435 meters further north,Finchley Road & Frognal London Overground station (Mildmay line). The road has as such become the colloquial name for the part of Hampstead between West Hampstead and Hampstead-on-the-Hill which is centred onHampstead Underground station (Northern line).
St John's Wood was served byFinchley Road railway station on theMidland Main Line (1868–1927).
In 1906, a stone plaque was affixed at 139 Finchley Road by Charles Wells, to commemorate the site of residence of 19th century German operatic signerThérèse Tietjens.[8]
A plaque marking the site of the Cosmo restaurant was unveiled in 2013 by theAssociation of Jewish Refugees. The venue, which was open from 1937 to 1998, was a popular meeting place for Jews who had fled from persecution in Central and Eastern Europe.[9]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)51°33′55″N0°11′47″W / 51.56528°N 0.19639°W /51.56528; -0.19639